Online Journal of Politics and Foreign Affairs
A mystery in The Vatican over who might be leaking documents that include Pope Benedict XVI’s private correspondence, has apparently been solved with the arrest of the most stereotypically obvious suspect possible: VATICAN CITY — An already sordid scandal over leaked Vatican documents took a Hollywood-like turn Saturday with confirmation that the pope’s own butler [...]
The phrase “American Taliban” is usually off the mark. However, sometimes it is closer to the mark than we might like.
The Catholic Church has fired a legal shot across the bow of the Affordable Care Act.
Mitt Romney is giving the commencement address at Liberty University today, which is interesting if only because of what the school’s Course Catalog has to say on the matter of Romney’s faith: LYNCHBURG, Va. — On page 173 of the course catalog for Liberty University, the country’s largest Evangelical Christian college, there’s a graduate course [...]
This past winter’s controversy over contraceptive coverage doesn’t appear to be hurting President Obama among Catholic voters: While Catholics — who make up 24% of all registered voters — tilt toward Obama over Romney, their support differs significantly based on how religious they are — just as was the case for Protestants. Very religious Catholics [...]
It would appear that many students at Liberty Universty, the Lynchburg, Virginia school founded by the late Jerry Falwell, are not happy that Mitt Romney will be giving the school’s commencement address this year: Liberty University students and alumni are accusing the Christian school of violating its own teachings by asking Republican presidential candidate Mitt [...]
Andrew Sullivan wants the Catholic Church to give up its hatred of homosexuals. There’s another alternative.
There are plenty of interesting pieces of data in the new Pew Research survey conducted for the Pew Forum on Religion and Life, but here’s one that may have implications for the 2012 elections: About half of the public (51%) agrees that religious conservatives have too much control over the GOP. Fewer (41%) agree that [...]
I noted last week that Rick Santorum, arguably the most Catholic candidate to ever run for the Presidency, had lost the Catholic vote in Michigan and Arizona. Perhaps not surprisingly, he also failed to carry Ohio Catholics yesterday: (CNN) – Rick Santorum, a conservative Catholic who is outspoken about faith-based issues, lost Catholic voters by [...]
Franklin Graham is apologizing for his remarks last week questioning the President’s faith: WASHINGTON (RNS) Evangelist Franklin Graham apologized Tuesday (Feb. 28) to President Obama for questioning his Christian faith and said religion has “nothing to do” with Graham’s decision not to support Obama’s re-election. Graham’s apology came after a group of prominent black religious [...]
Looking through the exit polling from Michigan and Arizona, there’s one fact that stood out to me. In both states, Rick Santorum, who has made his Catholicism and his positions on culture war issues like contraception part of his campaign for weeks now, lost the Catholic vote to a Mormon. In Michigan, Catholics went for [...]
A discussion in the comments thread of my “Time Running Out For GOP?” post led me to a post from four-plus years ago by frequent commenter and erstwhile blogger* Michael Reynolds titled “Money, Bombs and Jesus.”
Rick Santorum’s views on the role of religion in public life are built on lies about American history.
The latest round of protests in Afghanistan prove yet again that it’s time for us to leave.
A man who has three degrees from three public universities considers the President of the United States a “snob.”
A study of religiosity and young adults found that those who attend college are actually less likely to experience religious decline than those who do not attend college.
Rick Santorum would do well to listen to the words of the last Catholic to be President of the United States.
A Federal District Court Judge has ruled that a pharmacist cannot be required to stock and dispense the so-called Plan B birth control pill if he has a moral objection to abortifacients: A federal judge ruled Wednesday that pharmacists cannot be forced by state rules to sell “morning-after” contraceptives, also known as Plan B. The [...]
Once again Rick Santorum’s past comments about religious and cultural issues are coming back to bite him. This time, it’s a comment he made in 2008 regarding the teaching of evolution in public schools: One of the issues that I always got hammered for was the issue of evolution. I was the guy who actually [...]
Virginia has become the latest battleground for advocates of laws that define life as being at conception.
In a subtle but pointed attack, Rick Santorum today suggested that President Obama doesn’t follow a true version of Christianity: COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Lashing out on two fronts, Rick Santorum on Saturday questioned President Barack Obama’s Christian values and attacked GOP rival Mitt Romney’s Olympics leadership as he courted tea party activists and evangelical [...]
Rick Santorum is Michele Bachmann level crazy. Yet he’s arguably the Republican frontrunner right now.
I’ve noted before that I am highly skeptical of the religious liberty arguments being put forward by some opponents of the Obama Administration’s contraception coverage policy as applied to institutions run by churches and other religious organizations. That said, this statement by California’s Barbara Boxer is absolutely ridiculous: Senator Boxer warned yesterday that if the [...]
Some polling numbers to go along with the speculation.
Rasmussen: Catholics strongly disapprove of the job President Obama is doing as the debate continues over his administration’s new policy forcing Catholic institutions to pay for contraception they morally oppose. While the president’s overall job approval ratings have improved over the past couple of months, they have remained steady among Catholics. A new Rasmussen Reports [...]
Late yesterday, the nation’s Catholic Bishops came out with a statement that noted at least two strong objections to the revised contraceptive coverage plan unveiled yesterday by the White House: Hours after calling the Obama administration’s contraceptives compromise a “first step,” the Catholic bishops said Friday night they have “two serious objections” to the new [...]
The Obama Administration’s proposed solution to the impasse over contraceptives is unlikely to end the debate.
ABC News’s Jake Tapper is reporting this morning that the Obama Administration will be offering a compromise of some form regarding its controversial new rule requiring employers to provide coverage for contraceptives to their employees: With the White House under fire for its new rule requiring employers including religious organizations to offer health insurance that [...]
Should we just hand “marriage” over to churches and have civil unions for everyone else?
There are some signs that the Obama Administration may be looking for a way out of the controversy it has found itself in with Catholics and other religious groups: The White House may be open to compromising on a new rule that requires religious schools and hospitals to provide employees with access to free birth [...]
Will the Obama Administration’s decision on contraceptive coverage by the Catholic Church have an impact in November?
Requiring a religious institution to comply with civilian laws is not a violation of religious liberty.
This particular result from the CNN Exit Poll of yesterday’s South Carolina raises an eyebrow (click image to enlarge) : It is, I suppose, amusing that the guy who was raised Lutheran, became a Baptist in college, and converted to Catholicism after marrying the third wife he’d been carrying on an extra-martial affair with gets [...]
Marie Diamond finds this nugget in a Des Moines Register article discussing the reasons why Michele Bachmann’s campaign failed: Rival presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s Iowa coalitions director, Jamie Johnson, sent out an email saying that children’s lives would be harmed if the nation had a female president. He wrote it in June, but it surfaced [...]
It seems that Saturday’s vote by evangelical leaders in favor of Rick Santorum was less than meets the eye.
Tim Tebow has been at the center of a culture war battle, but he seems to have a more balanced view of the whole thing.
A far-reaching decision from the Supreme Court protecting religious liberty.
In 2010, Oklahoma voters passed a referendum blocking state judges from considering Islamic or any other form of international law when rendering decisions in Oklahoma courts. Despite widespread criticism, the referendum passed by a wide margin in what was widely attributed to the same kind of hysteria over Islam that we had seen the previous [...]
If you’re going to take public money, “religious liberty” is not an excuse to fail to comply with the law.
The Christmas spirit didn’t last very long at the Church Of The Nativity, the church built on the site where most Christians believe Christ was born: At one of oldest churches in the world, built over the cave that tradition marks as the place Jesus was born, Franciscan, Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests have brawled [...]
In a blinding flash of the obvious, Gallup finds that “Christianity Remains Dominant Religion in the United States.”
The Republican candidates for President are blurring what should be a pretty clear line.
Newt Gingrich has penned a lengthy response to the Iowa evangelical group The Family Leader in which he pledges support for a federal marriage amendment, supports the Mexico City Policy (which prevents any group getting federal dollars to refrain from performing abortions anywhere in the world, and promises he will never commit adultery: Defending Marriage. [...]
In a desperate bid to save a floundering campaign, Rick Perry is willing to sacrifice important freedoms.
